JP2007007608A - Minute object inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a minute object inspection device allowing highly accurate and efficient inspection by resolving problems of difficulty of keeping the attitude of further miniaturized minute object and wasteful time for inspection. <P>SOLUTION: A transparent material is employed for the non-vibration part 1B in a feeder 1, and cameras 4A-4F imaging a work W (minute object) are disposed around the non-vibration part 1B. Simultaneous imaging of multiple faces of the work W in an instant of passing the non-vibration part 1B dispenses with keeping of a constant attitude even with a work W of a shape other than a cube. Since no inspection is done on a turntable, a waiting time until the work W stops and gets stable necessary for imaging is not needed, to largely shorten the inspection time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a micro object inspection apparatus that inspects the appearance and dimensions of a micro object such as a capacitor chip and classifies the micro object into a non-defective product and a defective product based on an inspection result.

The present applicant has received the following patent for an inspection apparatus that accurately and efficiently inspects the appearance of a minute object and separates it into a non-defective product and a defective product.
Japanese Patent No. 3466990

  According to Patent Document 1, in order to capture a minute object, the minute object inspection apparatus has two cameras in the vicinity of the feeder, and four cameras in the vicinity of a rotary table disposed downstream of the minute object in the feeder. A camera is provided.

  Therefore, in the minute object inspection apparatus of Patent Document 1, the upper surface and one side surface of the minute object are imaged in the feeder, and the lower surface, the other side surface, the front surface, and the rear surface of the minute object are arranged on the rotary table provided downstream of the feeder. Is imaged.

  Since the micro object inspection apparatus in Patent Document 1 is configured after predicting problems and problems before filing and problems that may occur in the future pointed out at the time of filing, the dimensions from the filing date to the present state When the appearance inspection of the minute object, that is, the electronic element, was performed at the current speed, there was no problem.

  However, electronic devices are miniaturized on a daily basis, and further improvements are required to inspect the non-defective or defective electronic devices that are miniaturized more quickly and accurately.

  In Patent Document 1, a minute object is imaged at two places, a feeder and a rotary table. In order to accurately capture an image on the rotary table, it is necessary to wait until the work W (in the pocket) of the rotary table stops and stabilizes after the rotary table stops, and this time is wasted.

  In Patent Document 1, an image is taken even with a rotary table. For this reason, it is difficult to maintain an electronic device that is miniaturized and has a variety of external shapes in a correct posture to be imaged in the pocket of the rotary table.

  That is, in Patent Document 1, it is necessary to maintain the posture when the image is taken with the feeder until the image is taken with the rotary table. However, an electronic element other than a rectangular parallelepiped, such as a saddle type, a cylindrical type, or a capsule type, may unintentionally rotate or lose its posture until reaching the rotary table or within the pocket of the rotary table.

  Incidentally, in Patent Document 1, there is provided a configuration for correcting a minute object in a correct posture within a pocket of a rotary table. Nevertheless, when inspecting an electronic element that is further miniaturized and has a rounded corner even in a rectangular parallelepiped, the phenomenon that the micro object loses its posture up to the rotary table and in the pocket is becoming prominent.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is that, when inspecting a minute object that is further miniaturized, if there are a plurality of imaging locations, it is difficult to maintain the posture to that position, and the work on the rotary table It takes time for the work to stop and stabilize, and there is wasted time.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the micro object inspection apparatus of the present invention employs a transparent material for the non-vibrating part of the feeder that conveys the micro object, and arranges imaging means around the non-vibrating part, The minute object passing through the non-vibrating part was imaged, the minute object after passing through the feeder was received in the pocket of the rotary table, and the minute object after the inspection was sorted by the rotary table and conveyed to the storage unit.

  Since the non-vibrating part of the feeder is made transparent in the minute object inspection apparatus according to the present invention, for example, the entire surface of the minute object can be imaged by the non-vibrating part. As a result, all the images of the entire surface of the minute object can be prepared at a time, so that the time required for the inspection can be shortened.

  Further, since the minute object inspection apparatus according to the present invention does not capture the minute object on the rotary table, it is not necessary to maintain the posture of the minute object received on the rotary table, and as a result, the inspection accuracy is lowered due to the disturbance of the posture. And there is no false inspection, and highly accurate inspection can be performed.

  The present invention can be implemented by, for example, the following modes shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a main part of a minute object inspection apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a rotary table in the minute object inspection apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a feeder in the minute object inspection apparatus of the present invention.

  The micro object inspection apparatus according to the present invention inspects the appearance and dimensions of a micro object such as a capacitor chip (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece W) and sorts it into a non-defective product and a defective product based on the inspection result. Yes, it is configured as follows.

  Reference numeral 1 denotes a feeder for conveying the workpiece W. The feeder 1 picks up an image from a place (not shown) where an uninspected work W is stored, and a vibration unit 1A that aligns and conveys the work W by applying vibration, and the vibration of the work W is stationary and stabilized. Therefore, the non-vibration part 1B is provided.

  The vibration unit 1A is provided with a stop mechanism 1b. The stop mechanism 1b sends only one workpiece W, which is aligned and sequentially conveyed by the vibrating unit 1A, to the non-vibrating unit 1B, and temporarily stops the subsequent workpiece W.

  In the stop mechanism 1b, an air inlet 1ba is formed at the tip of the vibrating portion 1A. The intake port 1ba is connected to a pump (not shown) via a hose, and a valve 1bb is provided in the middle of the hose.

  That is, when the valve 1bb of the stop mechanism 1b is closed, the intake of the intake port 1ba is shut off, and the workpiece W moves to the non-vibrating portion 1B by intake from the pocket 2A by the intake / exhaust device 2P described later.

  When the valve 1bb of the stop mechanism 1b is opened, the workpiece W is temporarily stopped by the intake of the intake port 1ba. By repeating this, the workpieces W are sent one by one to the non-vibrating part 1B and sent to the pocket 2A.

  The non-vibrating part 1B in the feeder 1 is made of sapphire glass having high transparency. By making the non-vibrating part 1B transparent in this way, it has become possible to capture images with the cameras 4A to 4F described later on all six surfaces of the workpiece W passing through the non-vibrating part 1B.

  The feeder 1 is formed with a V-shaped or U-shaped groove 1a in the conveyance path of the workpiece W for stable alignment so that the workpiece W does not roll and assume an unintended posture. Yes. When the groove 1a is V-shaped, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the lower surface of the workpiece W and the other side surface of the other surface are in contact with each other to hold the workpiece W, and the workpiece W is positioned obliquely in advance. As a result, the upper surface and one side surface of the workpiece W are directed outward. When the groove 1a is U-shaped, the workpiece W holds the workpiece W with a part of the bottom surface and a part of the side surface contacting the groove 1a.

  In this example, the feeder 1 is provided with a vibrating portion 1A, a non-vibrating portion 1B, and a guide portion 1C in order of the conveyance direction of the workpiece W. The guide portion 1C does not vibrate, and is provided for correctly moving the workpiece W from the feeder 1 to the pocket 2A by suction from the intake / exhaust port 2a in the rotary table 2 described later.

  Reference numeral 2 denotes a rotary table that is provided on the front end (guide portion 1C) of the feeder 1 with its side peripheral surface facing the feeder. The rotary table 2 rotates while repeatedly stopping. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rotary table 2 is formed with a plurality of pockets 2 </ b> A that are recessed in a rectangular shape from the side peripheral surface toward the center, with a gap in the circumferential direction.

  An intake / exhaust port 2a is provided on the wall surface in the back of the pocket 2A. The intake / exhaust port 2a is connected through a hose to an intake / exhaust device 2P that appropriately performs intake and exhaust. This hose is provided with a valve V. That is, the rotary table 2 is configured such that the intake and exhaust of air is controlled by the intake / exhaust device 2P and the valve for each pocket 2A. In addition, in FIG. 1, illustration of a pipe and the intake / exhaust device 2P is omitted.

  Reference numeral 3 denotes a storage unit that is provided in a plurality at the outer peripheral position of the rotary table 2 and that stores the inspected work W in a distributed manner. A plurality of storage units 3 are prepared in accordance with the inspection result of the workpiece W at a location facing the pocket 2A when the rotary table 2 is temporarily stopped.

  In order to discharge the workpiece W to the storage unit 3, the valve V corresponding to the pocket 2A when facing the storage unit 3 is opened, the intake / exhaust device 2P is exhausted, and air is blown out from the intake / exhaust port 2a. .

  As the type of the storage unit 3, for example, a non-defective product storage unit 3a that stores a non-defective workpiece W that does not have any error in the inspection result, for example, a defective product storage that stores workpieces W that have errors in the top, bottom, left, and right and front and rear surfaces. The parts 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 3f and 3g are required at least.

  In FIG. 1, the storage unit 3 shows a non-defective product storage unit 3 a, defective product storage units 3 f and 3 g, and a forced discharge storage unit 3 z described later, and the rest are omitted. Further, the storage unit 3 can be increased according to the inspection item, and if there is a portion where the pocket 2A is opposed to the rotary table rotating position, the storage unit 3 can be arranged accordingly.

  In that case, it is desirable to arrange upstream from the inspection item where the result is early, and the non-defective product storage section 3a is preferably provided at the downstream position of the rotation. Further, a forcible discharge storage part 3z for forcibly discharging the work W that has not been discharged from the pocket 2A for some reason and storing it at a further downstream position of the non-defective product storage part 3a.

  In this example, in the pocket 2A facing the forced discharge storage portion 3z, control is performed to open the valve V and exhaust the intake / exhaust device 2P regardless of the result of the inspection or the presence or absence of the workpiece W. By doing in this way, the trouble which arises when the workpiece | work W is not discharged | emitted from the pocket 2A can be prevented.

  In this example, 4A to 4F are cameras provided around the non-vibrating portion 1B as imaging means in order to image, for example, the entire six surfaces of the workpiece W. Specifically, the cameras 4A to 4F are arranged as follows.

  The cameras 4A and 4B are respectively provided above and below the non-vibrating part 1B of the feeder 1 in order to capture the upper and lower surfaces of the workpiece W, respectively. Similarly, the cameras 4C and 4D are respectively provided on the left and right sides of the non-vibrating portion 1B of the feeder 1 in order to capture the left and right surfaces of the workpiece W, respectively. The cameras 4E and 4F are respectively provided above and behind the conveyance direction in the non-vibration part 1B of the feeder in order to capture the front and rear surfaces of the workpiece W, respectively.

  Actually, since the workpiece W is inclined by the (V-shaped) groove 1a in the non-vibrating portion 1B of the feeder 1, the cameras 4A to 4F are also provided at inclined positions according to the inclination. That is, the cameras 4 </ b> A to 4 </ b> D are arranged so that each surface of the workpiece W is captured directly in the center of the imaging field of view. The cameras 4E and 4F cannot arrange the front and rear surfaces of the workpiece W in front of each other in terms of arrangement, but are arranged at a position as close to the feeder 1 as possible, that is, at a low position.

  Next, the operation of the micro object inspection apparatus having the above configuration will be described. When the workpiece W is conveyed by the feeder 1, the posture of the workpiece W is adjusted by the vibrating portion 1A, and the groove 1a is formed. Therefore, the workpiece W is conveyed in a stable posture along the groove 1a.

  When the valve 1bb is closed in the stop mechanism 1b, the intake air from the intake port 1ba is shut off, and the workpiece W moves to the pocket 2A by the intake air by the intake / exhaust device 2P. At the moment when the workpiece W passes through the non-vibrating portion 1B, the upper and lower, left and right and front and rear surfaces of the workpiece W are simultaneously imaged by the cameras 4A to 4F. Then, when the work W moves to the pocket 2A, the data that has been imaged while the rotary table 2 is rotating is subjected to image processing.

  The inspection result by the image processing is sequentially output until the pocket 2A faces the storage portion 3 in the rotation of the turntable 2, and the intake / exhaust device 2P and the valve V are controlled according to this output. That is, for example, when there is a defect on the upper surface of the workpiece W, the fact is output, and when the pocket 2A in which the workpiece W exists faces the defective product storage portion 3b that stores the defective workpiece W on the upper surface, The port 2P is evacuated, the valve V is opened, and the workpiece W is discharged to the defective product storage portion 3b.

Hereinafter, an experiment for confirming the effect of the minute object inspection apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
The apparatus adopted as an example is a minute object inspection apparatus according to the present invention.
The apparatus adopted as a comparative example is a micro object inspection apparatus according to Patent Document 1.

The workpiece W used in the experiment and the comparison conditions are as follows.
(1) How long it was possible to sort 10,000 workpieces W in a vertical shape of 0.4mm in length and 0.2mm in width, and (2) there was a defect despite being separated from good products It was judged how much work W there was.

  For (2), workpieces W having defects at a rate of 10 pieces per 100 pieces are mixed in advance, and after the inspection in (1), the inspection speed is greatly increased for each of the example and the comparative example. This was confirmed by conducting a reliable inspection later.

(Example)
The following results were obtained for the examples.
(1) Separation was possible in about 5 minutes.
(2) None of the defective workpieces W existed while being classified as non-defective products.

(Comparative example)
The following result was obtained for the comparative example.
(1) Separation was possible in about 8 minutes.
(2) There were 5 defective workpieces W that were sorted as non-defective products.

  From the result of (1), while the comparative example images the workpiece W at two locations of the feeder and the rotary table, the embodiment can image the entire surface of the workpiece W at once with the non-vibrating portion 1B, which greatly increases the inspection time. The amount of workpieces W that can be processed per unit time has increased.

  The following can be said from the result of (2). In the comparative example, the posture of the bowl-shaped workpiece W may be collapsed during imaging on the rotary table. As a result, the surface captured by the feeder is captured again, or the surface that was not captured by the feeder is not captured again. The phenomenon that occurs. Due to this, there is a work W that has been classified as a non-defective product and has a defect.

  In contrast to the comparative example, in the example, the entire surface of the workpiece W is simultaneously imaged in an instant that passes through the non-vibrating portion 1B, so that there is no occurrence of imaging or re-imaging. None of the sorted workpieces W had defects.

  Although the present invention has been described with reference to an example in which an appearance inspection of an electronic component is performed in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to an electronic component, and may be used for separating non-defective products or defective products of parts that are recently miniaturized in a structure. .

  Further, the non-vibrating portion 1B is not limited to sapphire glass, but may be made of a transparent material that does not easily wrinkle, but is desirably colorless. Furthermore, in the above-described example, the illumination is not particularly described, but the accuracy can be further improved by adjusting the position of the illumination according to the inspection item of the workpiece W.

  Further, in the above description, the rotary table 2 is a horizontal arrangement type, but may be a vertical arrangement. Moreover, about the cameras 4A-4F, although the arrangement | positioning in the case of performing the 6-plane inspection of the workpiece | work W was illustrated above, the workpiece | work W which passes the non-vibration part 1B can be simultaneously imaged at once, and the vicinity of the non-vibration part 1B Or if it is a periphery, the number of cameras, a position, and an angle will not be limited above.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the micro object inspection apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the turntable in the micro object inspection apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the feeder in the micro object inspection apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Feeder 1A Vibration part 1B Non-vibration part 1a Groove 1b Stop mechanism 2 Rotary table 2A Pocket 2a Intake / exhaust port 3 Storage parts 4A-4F Camera

Claims (3)

  Feeder that transports a minute object, a rotary table provided downstream of the transport path of the feeder, a storage unit that is provided downstream of the rotation table and stores a minute object after inspection, and an imaging unit that images the minute object The feeder has a vibrating part that vibrates and aligns the minute object and a non-vibrating part that does not vibrate and is transparent, and is conveyed from the feeder to the rotary table. A micro object inspection apparatus, wherein a plurality of pockets for receiving micro objects are formed.   2. The micro object inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the imaging means is disposed above and below the non-vibrating portion of the feeder, on both sides, and in the front and rear direction. 3. The minute object inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of storage portions for separating the minute objects for each inspection result are arranged at positions facing the pockets of the rotary table.

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